You and your avatar can have many interesting experiences in virtual spaces. Below are tutorials and animations on working in virtual spaces; you will find that Badges are available too for many areas. There are different "viewers" that act as interaction-devices for your work in virtual spaces -- the one used in these instructions are for Imprudence; you will need to make some slight modifications if you are using Second Life or other viewers, however, the differences are quite intuitive. Return to the main Badge page or to the page with building.

Moving, flying, viewing, and teleporting - Basic: Virtual Tools 1

Demonstrate your skill at navigating virtual environment. Here you will learn to move around the island in a number of ways. Click here for a 3 minute animated version of the directions below. After reviewing these directions and practicing on the virtual island, you can earn your own Basic: Virtual Tools 1, by clicking here and passing the Challenge (see directions at the link) or by clicking the badge icon to the left.

The arrow keys on your keyboard will move you in the direction that the arrows point; the W, S, A, & D keys will also move your avatar; pressing E will make you jump and pressing F will make you stop flying; in you combine the arrows or W,S, A, D with E you will start flying.;

By clicking View (at the screen top), then clicking Movement Controls, you place a detachable menu on your screen that lets you also move by clicking the direction arrows;

You can also fly by clicking Fly at the bottom of the screen.

Use all the procedures here to move around and fly over the islands. Click Stop Flying or the letter F to resume walking.

View the island without moving by clicking View at screen top then clicking Camera Controls; this also puts a detachable menu on your screen that lets you move your view – experiment with the different ways you can move the camera;

Move quickly by Teleporting -- click either Map or Mini Map at the bottom of the screen, then double-click the place on the map where you want to move.

You can see dots for the other avatars too on these maps. On the Mini Map if you hover your mouse over the dot you will learn the name of the avatar too - you can double-click near the avatar to move to visit him or her.

Taking & saving Snapshots - Basic: Virtual Tools 2

Being able to navigate and use a virtual space is improved once you can take pictures of any location within virtual spaces. Here you will learn how to use and save Snapshots. Click here for a 3.3 minute animated version of the directions that are also summarized below. After reviewing these directions and practicing on the virtual island, you can earn your own Basic: Tools 2, by clicking here and passing the Challenge (see directions at the link) or by clicking the badge icon to the left.

At screen bottom, click Snapshot; in the menu that opens, you see the Snapshot that was taken and the different options that are available;

If you like the view in the Snapshot-preview screen, proceed as explained below; if you want to change the view, click onto the island, move your avatar (or adjust the Camera Control menu (View > Camera Controls)) and click Refresh until you get the picture that you want;

Choose to Save to Inventory (saves on the virtual island) or Save to Hard Drive (saves on your computer)

If you Save-to-Inventory, you can click the Inventory button (bottom right on the screen) and you will can then double-click open any save Snapshots

If you choose Save-on-Hard-Drive, you will be brought to your computer -- save the Snapshot on your computer, being careful to create a useful name and to remember the location where you saved the Snapshot

The email option is not presently available.

You can return and open your saved Snapshots from the Inventory and/or you can share the Snapshots that you saved on your computer.

Talking, listening, and texting - Basic: Virtual Communications 1

You can communicate with other avatars in a number of ways. Click here for a 3 minute animated version of the directions below. After reviewing these directions and practices on the virtual island, you can earn your own Virtual Badge: Communicator 1, by clicking here and passing the Challenge (see directions at the link) or by clicking the badge icon to the left.

In the lower right of the screen, there are a number of talking/listening controls – by clicking Local Chat, you are given a textbox in which you can type a message & press enter and the message will be viewable to those nearby.

You can also use the Talk button too, in conjunction with a headset – you click-and-hold the button when you want to speak; green waves come out of the avatar’s head when you are speaking;

To talk continuously, you click the Lock icon on the Talk button which keeps the button turned on; be sure to “toggle” off the headset icon when you are not speaking or you can cause loud feedback noise for other avatars;

If you have trouble with speech, go to top menu, click Edit > Preferences > Voice Chat (on the left of the box) > Device Setting – check the microphone & speakers (the terms that Imprudence uses) and if you don’t see green boxes when you speak then click the drop-down arrow and select a different microphone or speaker device; click OK to save any changes; return to the island and test your Talk feature;

It is good to work with another avatar to find out if they can hear you and to test your speaking abilities.